Good new for the Old Library and people who like it

[ceharv]

Some rare good news for Olean. The Old Library ‘s future is apparently in good hands. It has new owners who have secured a state-city grant that will allow them to proceed with a $1M renovation project to include reopening the Event Center as a regular restaurant and renovate the B&B with new bathrooms throughout , a new kitchen and a spa in the basement, plus other upgrades and improvements. So it should be in existence for the foreseeable future. Other downtown Olean businesses are also receiving grants.

[jim62]

That is great news.
The Library is an outstanding restaurant and worth a stop whenever I am in Olean.
My brother and I were in Olean several years ago on a tour of Cleveland, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, the campus etc. and had dinner at the Old Library.
My brother lives in La Jolla CA and eats at their great restaurants there.
He still talks about our dinner at the Old Library.

[res]

It might be great news, it might not. It's the same structure, but who knows how good the restaurant will be until it opens. I think the new owner used to work there but he is planning on changing the look of the place and the menu, so whether it's great or not, I wouldn't get too nostalgic about the the old place. I'm also not sure that giving government money to someone in the food/hostelry industry is such a good idea. I'm sure the city wants to keep that block of S. Union St. in good repair but if I were the owner of a competing business I wouldn't be happy.

[Bonafan71]

I will say, Olean appears to have enjoyed a bit of a renaissance of late -- at least the downtown area. I hadn't been back in more than 10 years until this December and I was very impressed. The roundabouts are a huge improvement over the stoplights and the shops and bars and restaurants all seemed to be busy. It's getting harder and harder for rural areas to survive but hopefully Olean and some of the other surrounding towns can push through.